Corrugated paperboard is typically used in many different applications, for example, to form containers, boxes, cartons or dividers for holding, storing, stacking or shipping various items, such as reams of paper utilized in copiers and printers.
Typically, such containers have a bottom, four side walls and a removable lid, and are formed from blanks indented with score lines or cut lines, wherein the container's base and removable lid each are erected from separate blanks. Each blank is most often scored by automated machines in a continuous in-line process involving cutting, scoring and molding continuous sheets of paperboard. The paperboard is then erected by the automated machines along the score lines or cut lines to form the base or the removable lid. Alternatively, the blanks may be erected into a container by a consumer or other manual means. For full assembly of the container, once the lid and base have been erected, the removable lid is placed over the base in a secure yet non-bonded manner.
Frequently, containers are utilized for holding commercial products that are shipped to retail stores and outlets for the sale and display of the contained products. With a basic container, when the retail establishment wishes to display the products held inside, an on-site user must open the container, remove the products, and place the products on a display tray or stand, which can be a time consuming process. Thus, retail establishments often prefer a shipping container that can be converted into a display tray. This enables a user to display the goods quickly on a shelf without first removing the products from the container and can create impromptu and self-sufficient display trays where no such means previously existed, thereby saving costs.
With respect to the shipping of reams of office paper, converting a container to a display tray is problematic. Usually, such containers that are designed to convert into a display tray have a single side panel that is scored or perforated. To convert the container, the lid is removed and discarded. The perforated side panel is then torn and removed from the base, displaying the paper inside. However, a perforation along a side wall of the container's base is not an optimal solution. First, excessive perforation along a single side panel results in compromised integrity of the container along that side panel, reducing the overall strength of the container. Second, tearing away a single side panel often tears away more of the container than intended, resulting in torn or frayed edges, and a generally unattractive display.
Further, in convertible containers, access to the lowest item held within the container after it has converted into a display tray is often limited by the bottom panel of the container. For example, if a user wants to remove a ream of paper that is lying on the bottom panel of a container, the user will not be able to access the ream from the ream's bottom side since the bottom panel will block all lower access. Thus, it will be difficult for a user to grip the ream without first leveraging at least a part of the ream upward. Such leveraging is usually done by pushing a side of the ream and moving the side tangentially upward until lower access can be achieved, which can be a cumbersome process.
Therefore, it is an object of this invention to provide a convertible paperboard shipper display container that does not significantly compromise the strength of a container's side panel with perforated lines and allows for easy and clean tearing of the paperboard container while potentially providing bottom side access to the items held within the container.